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Business Marketing Strategies: Patience (And Its Associated Problems)

When it comes to implementing strategies in business, it’s a waiting game. You have the idea. You do the market research about how to achieve the idea. You hire someone for, or implement yourself, the work needed to make the idea a reality. And then you wait. It could be your SEO strategy or a new method you have come up with for lead generation. It might even just be advertising in general, posting a new ad online or even running a TV promotion. The one thing these all have in common is that they are strategic thinking designed to help a startup get off the ground, to bring in new business, and to further your personal goals as to what the company can achieve. So when you have started down a new road, that can feel like the end of the story. You’ve done the work; now you just sit back and wait for the new customers and their money to come pouring into your company. It’s sensible at this point to be patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, you tell yourself, you’ve got to give the new strategy time to reach a natural payoff point. But what do you do if there’s no payoff, no change? How long should you wait it out, before you acknowledge that your strategy isn’t actually delivering the results you hoped to yield? What Happens If You Change Course Too Quickly? Let’s say that you’ve contacted a search engine optimization company in the hopes of getting more eyes on your business site. After a week, there’s no noticeable upsurge in traffic, no extra conversions, no new money coming into the business. Seven days can be a long time in business, and you don’t want to wait around with a strategy that isn’t working. So you decide it’s not good enough. You want to switch to another company; maybe even wrest back control of the entire SEO operation and just manage it yourself. If you do that, then all the work and money that went into the first campaign is effectively wasted. These things take time. Being impatient and expecting immediate results is just going to lead to you flitting between ideas, never settling in for a long-term strategy to help give your business the results you want. What Happens If You Wait Too Long? On the flip side of the coin, let’s say it’s been 12 months. You’ve waited; you’ve been patient. Yet there’s no denying that with the year anniversary of the beginning of a campaign rearing its head, there’s no discernible difference in traffic or conversions. Your marketing strategy hasn’t worked. This is the point at which you’ve left it too long, and wasted money waiting for an idea that is ineffective to pay off. This example applies to any form of promotion. Being too impatient and overly patient are the two extremes you need to avoid. So How Do You Avoid Being Too Impatient Or Too Patient? • Discuss with any company/expert you hire how long it generally takes to see results. •Ask fellow business owners if you think the proposed timescale is reasonable. • Don’t get overly invested in one particular form of marketing; diversify to ensure you have multiple plus points working for you at once. The too impatient/too patient line is a tough one to walk, but by utilizing the above ideas, you should be able to take steps forward in a productive way.